


The Mark of the Wise

by sokkattome



Series: Trans Gaang [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coming Out, Fluff, Gen, Trans Sokka (Avatar), and some angst i guess but only a lil bc it’s very short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29609943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sokkattome/pseuds/sokkattome
Summary: “He could have sent a letter. He could have let Bato tell him. He could have done anything to prepare his father, at least a little. Would Hakoda recognize Sokka as the child he left years ago? Did Sokka even want him to?”___________Or: Sokka transitions after Hakoda leaves, and is now seeing him for the first time since.
Relationships: Bato & Sokka (Avatar), Hakoda & Sokka (Avatar)
Series: Trans Gaang [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2175462
Comments: 8
Kudos: 72





	The Mark of the Wise

**Author's Note:**

> trans sokka supremacy  
> [trans sokka art! :)](https://sokkattome.tumblr.com/post/643747418464206848/the-mark-of-the-wise-short-trans-sokka-oneshot/)

Sokka had imagined this moment countless times. It always ended differently.

Hakoda had always been accepting, loving unconditionally. Those were the values upheld by the Southern Water Tribe; Sokka hadn’t been aware there was animosity towards people like him until he’d left. Sokka had no doubt the rest of the men wouldn’t bat an eye at his transition. He was even an official man now, since Bato had taken him ice (rock?) dodging.

Would Hakoda recognize Sokka as the child he left years ago? Did Sokka even want him to?

He could have sent a letter. He could have let Bato tell him. He could have done  _ anything _ to prepare his father, at least a little.

Sokka hadn’t done anything, though. He’d written letter after letter, which had all joined each other in various wastebaskets around the world--because what was he supposed to say?  _ “Hey Dad, hope everything is going well with the Fire Nation! Oh yeah, and P.S. I’m actually your son!” _ Sokka hadn’t even signed his letters to the tribesmen letting them know he was coming; he couldn’t bear to use the name Hakoda would recognize, but he couldn’t use his own, either. Hakoda had already missed so much to circumstances he couldn’t control--Sokka couldn’t just drop this on him when he needed to focus on kicking Fire Nation butt. Kicking Fire Nation butt took a lot of energy. Sokka would know, he had been doing a lot of that lately.

And now Sokka was in his father’s camp, outside his father’s tent, waiting to muster the courage to enter. Bato placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. 

“It’s gonna be okay, kid. Come on, he’s so excited to see you.”

Sokka nodded, the words not quite hitting him as the anxiety radiating off of him deflected them.

Hakoda had always said Sokka looked like his mother. How sad he would be to see him now. 

Sokka couldn’t stand out here forever, though. Or could he? Maybe he would. Maybe coming here was a bad idea. It wasn’t too late to leave. Aang had taken Appa, but Sokka could swim. He was Water Tribe, he could make it.

The tent curtain opened. His father stepped out.

Hakoda was not a tall man. Sokka was grateful for that: he could delude himself into believing his five-and-a-half foot self was due to genetics passed down from his father. Hakoda was, of course, still taller--but Sokka was shocked by how much closer in height they had become. Hakoda couldn’t have been more than two or three inches taller than Sokka. Looking at him, though, Sokka was once again reminded of how little he and his father share appearance-wise. The hormones had worked wonders, but Sokka’s bone structure remained fine, and his arms stubbornly noodle-adjacent. Who was he to come here? Even if Hakoda was accepting, he could never see Sokka as his son.

“Hey,” Sokka said, and of course his voice cracked. He cleared it and tried again. “Hey, Dad.”

Hakoda stared at Sokka for a moment, attempting to suppress the confusion apparent on his face. Then he looked to Bato, who nodded in response to whatever question was in his eyes. Hakoda and Bato had always had a knack for knowing what the other was thinking; it seemed the past two years fighting the Fire Nation together had only strengthened that connection.

Hakoda looked down and Sokka realized there was a paper in his hands: it was Sokka’s letter, telling Hakoda he and Katara were okay, and that he would be coming to see him. Hakoda turned his attention back to Sokka, eyes shining.

“It’s me,” Sokka added, though he doubted that was a useful assertion. “My… I’m Sokka. Now.”

“Sokka,” Hakoda repeated, finally speaking. His voice was thick with unshed tears. “I like that.”

Sokka nodded in response, resisting the urge to say,  _ “I chose it myself.” _ Sokka had known Hakoda liked the name, anyway--it had been him and Kya that had originally chosen it for Sokka, sixteen years ago--just in case they had a boy.

Well, they did, and Sokka wasn’t one to be ungrateful; he accepted the name gladly when Gran Gran introduced it to him. The other names had sounded foreign--Katara assured him they all would until he got some use out of them--but  _ Sokka _ had been familiar from the start. Like it was meant to be his name all along. When Sokka gave up the parts of him that were Kya’s, he kept this name that she had bestowed to him.

“Sokka,” Hakoda said again, and the tears in his voice filled his eyes as he saw his son for the first time in two years. His son, who finally fit right in the skin he’s inherited. Who was born in the body of a male because he was male and it was  _ his _ body, if only they had seen it sooner. If only he had seen it sooner. 

“Son,” Hakoda reached out and spread his arms, “can I hug you?”

In response, Sokka collapsed in the arms of his father, who tethered him to the earth—keeping him from floating away, finally free of the weight that had grounded him.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!  
> [check out my tumblr and my other fics if you want :)](https://sokkattome.tumblr.com/)  
> [trans sokka art! :)](https://sokkattome.tumblr.com/post/643747418464206848/the-mark-of-the-wise-short-trans-sokka-oneshot/)


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